When Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Office Word finish checking the spelling and grammar, you can choose to display information about the reading level of the document, including readability scores according to the following tests:

What do you want to do?

Enable readability statistics

Do the following in one of these Microsoft Office programs:

Word

  1. Click the Microsoft Office Button button image, and then click Word Options.
  2. Click Proofing.
  3. Make sure Check grammar with spelling is selected.
  4. Under When correcting grammar in Word, select the Show readability statistics check box.

Outlook

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. Click the Spelling tab, and then click Spelling and AutoCorrection.
  3. Click Proofing.
  4. Under When correcting grammar in Outlook, select the Check grammar with spelling check box.
  5. Select the Show readability statistics check box.

After you enable this feature, open a file that you want to check, and . When Outlook or Word finishes checking the spelling and grammar, it displays information about the reading level of the document.

Understand readability scores

Each readability test bases its rating on the average number of syllables per word and words per sentence. The following sections explain how each test scores your file's readability.

Flesch Reading Ease test

This test rates text on a 100-point scale. The higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. For most standard files, you want the score to be between 60 and 70.

The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease score is:

206.835 - (1.015 x ASL) - (84.6 x ASW)

where:

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of syllables divided by the number of words)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test

This test rates text on a U.S. school grade level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document. For most documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

The formula for the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score is:

(.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) - 15.59

where:

ASL = average sentence length (the number of words divided by the number of sentences)

ASW = average number of syllables per word (the number of syllables divided by the number of words)

Understand how languages affect readability scores

The languages that you use in a document can affect how your Microsoft Office program checks and presents readability scores.